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Difference between KMR, KMI and KMP?

BWG
edited June 2013 in Off-Topic
I am trying to fully understand the differences between KMR, KMP and KMI. Would appreciate any inputs as well as a clarification on which of these three does not require filing of K-1 tax forms.

Thanks in advance,

BWG

Comments

  • edited June 2013
    KMI = parent company of Kinder Morgan Partners and El Paso/Pipeline, as well as recently Copano Energy. If the subsidiaries do well, the parent does very well.

    KMR = Corporation who is just wholly invested in KMP. Does not require K-1. Has continued to trade at discount to KMP. Is considered by many to be equal to KMP, but I've read that KMP has a senior claim on liquidation assets,so maybe the KMR discount is due in some part to lesser priority. Distributions (which are effectively stock splits every quarter) are paid in shares, not cash (although some brokers do not do fractional shares/reinvestment for this so that will be paid in cash anyways.)

    KMP = Kinder Morgan Partners. K-1. Distributions can be taken in cash or stock. Trades continually at a premium to KMR, although the premium varies. Insiders and to some degree institutions have often used KMR, given the lack of tax issues (K-1) and to some degree the discount.

    KMI and KMR do not generate K-1's.

  • Scott,

    Thanks. This is very helpful.

    I need to do some research to figure out whether to target KMI or KMR..need to understand i) What proportion of KMI is made up of KMP.
    ii) Whether the discount at which KMR trades to KMP has narrowed overtime.

    BWG
  • The KMR/KMP discount has narrowed over time, although it varies and the spread between the two could certainly widen again. It seemed to narrow more significantly a month or two ago, then has widened a bit in the last couple of weeks as income equities haven't done well.

    The company has an enormous amount of assets, but the investor presentations on the website do a good job detailing the composition of the company.

    The only thing with KMR is contact your broker to ask for details regarding reinvestment of fractional shares (if that's important to you, if not, then no matter.)

    Kinder Morgan is among a set of companies that I consider very long-term holdings.
  • Reply to @scott: Thanks again. I noticed, from M*, that Kinder and his COO hold a much larger number of shares of KMI than KMR or KMP.

    Although it is not an apples to apples comparison, the KMR/KMP situation reminds me of the situation with the A and B shares of Chipotle. For a long time, B shares traded at a clear discount. Going long B/short A was a simple and ultimately profitable trade, as the company converted the B shares into A share.

    BWG
  • For a fairly comprehensive take on the differences between KMI, KMR and KMP as well as some thoughts on Richard Kinder the CEO along with his holdings in the three entities you might want to read through the attached thread from the M* Income and Dividend Investing Forum.

    http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/p/322421/3398894.aspx#PageIndex=1
  • Reply to @Mark: Thanks! I learned a lot more about KMI from that thread. Very helpful.

    BWG
  • I wasn't planning on it, but after the announcement of a new operation I may add more to Kinder.

    "Kinder Morgan Energy to start new biz of acquiring, owning, leasing properties
    Kinder Morgan Energy Partners announced that it is initiating a new business of owning, leasing and acquiring natural resource reserves within its Terminals business segment to pursue non-operating investments in coal and other mineral reserve properties and infrastructure. Richard Whiting, a senior executive with more than 35 years of experience in the coal industry, has joined KMP as President of Kinder Morgan Resources, which will own mineral reserve properties and other assets in North America. KMP will not actively engage in the mining of coal or other natural resources, but will lease properties it acquires to various operators in exchange for royalty payments. The lessees of the properties will manage any commodity price risk associated with the operations, not KMP, the company said."

    http://www.theflyonthewall.com/permalinks/entry.php/KMPid1844290/KMP-Kinder-Morgan-Energy-to-start-new-biz-of-acquiring-owning-leasing-properties
  • THE TAX-CONSCIOUS ADVISER: Robert N. Gordon
    Investment News [may need to register]
    The best way to play Kinder Morgan
    Corporate structure designed for tax-exempt investors may benefit taxable investors, as well

    http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20130616/REG/306169991
  • As I look more carefully at buying KMI or KMR, I am stuck on a couple of questions which may be naive. I may be missing something very obvious here:

    1) Why are the yields of KMI and KMR/KMP so different? Does this yield difference translate into greater capital appreciation in KMI?

    2) As we have seen from recent events, pipelines can burst/leak and cause enormous damage. How is Kinder Morgan protected from liabilities in case an accident happens with one o their pipelines? Is there a risk of a 'BP type' stock hit from an accident?

    Separately, have any of you considered KMI warrants?

    Thanks in advance,

    BWG
  • edited June 2013
    KMP is an MLP and distributions have to be paid out of distributable cash flow. KMR is a corporation that just owns KMP. KMR is more popular given that it allows one to effectively own KMP without the tax issues (K-1, distributions for KMR are a "stock split"). However, KMR has traded at a variable discount to KMP. That discount may tighten or widen. The discount has never been really explained, but some have said that KMP has greater priority in a "liquidation event" and that may be part of it. Still, insider buying and institutional buying continues to head to KMR more heavily.

    KMI is not an MLP - it is the general partner/manager for KMP and EPB (El Paso), as well as newly acquired Copano Energy. The general partner gets distributions and those distributions can rise. To me, the general partner stocks often seem like leveraged plays on the partnerships. If the partnerships do well, the general partners do very well. If the partnerships do not, the general partner does not. Kinder Morgan has forecast higher dividend growth rates over time for KMI than for KMP/KMR.

    ______

    There are pipeline spills (there's a video on Youtube of an Exxon pipeline spill in Arkansas last year where oil was heading down a suburban street - ), but there are new technologies and hopefully work will be done on older pipelines. Whether or not companies put new technologies to work is the question.

    I think the worry with pipelines is leaks which are not good, but I think the other issue with pipelines is political (the Keystone pipeline situation in the US, Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline dispute in Canada) and media. This is a great article on oil transport rail vs pipeline from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323296504578396850749052848.html

    I don't think there's a risk of a BP-level issue from a pipeline company. I do think there is a mild-to-moderate risk.

    Additionally, while pipelines are Kinder's focus, I would also suggest looking at the terminals business, which I think is also quite interesting (and fairly sizable - 180 terminals across the country - the largest terminal operation. http://www.kindermorgan.com/business/terminals/)

    Kinder's new natural resource land leasing business (a small sub-biz of the terminals business) is also interesting. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=93621&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1828384&highlight=

    Kinder's asset map is pretty remarkable, as well:
    http://www.kindermorgan.com/asset_map/KM_System_Map.pdf

    I haven't considered Kinder warrants - wish I would have lol.
  • On Monday, one of the largest insider purchases on the market came from Richard Kinder, CEO of Kinder Morgan, Inc (KMI). The head officer and chairman of the board purchased 500,000 shares at an average price of $35.78. The total transaction value of the purchase was $17.89 million. According to the filed Form 4 found here, Richard Kinder now owns an impressive 230,259,786 shares of Class P common stock.

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/1523732-kinder-morgan-inc-s-ceo-increases-his-share-is-now-the-time-to-buy
  • Reply to @scott: Is the time to buy KMR when its price is less than KMP? Or otherwise? When the distribution is paid to KMR in shares, is the equivalent amount same as KMP?
  • Reply to @ron: KMR has continually traded at a variable discount to KMP. That discount has closed a bit over time but shows no signs of approaching matching KMP. It may eventually - the company discusses the discount as "an attractive opportunity" on its most recent presentation on the company website (and I believe they've said as much previously.)

    KMR only allows dividends in shares, but a number of brokerages will not reinvest if the quarterly dividend amount is less than one share and just give the amount in cash. The dividend amount is the same.

    KMR does not generate a K-1, unlike KMP.

    Kinder is certainly not without risk or periods of significant volatility - those interested should certainly do their own research before investing (and there is a great deal of information on the company website as well as a ton of articles on seekingalpha.com).

    Personally, I like the company a good deal and consider it one of my very long term holds.

    The company has also bounced quite a bit in the last few days - I'd suggest waiting and seeing what the market does.

  • Reply to @BWG: FWIW, Richard Kinder the CEO of Kinder Morgan owns:
    KMI, 22.2% or 230,259,786 shares roughly valued at $8,556,453,647.00
    KMR, 0.25% or 289,354 shares roughly valued at $23,310,358.00
    KMP, 0.09% or 325,895 shares roughly valued at $27,114,464.00

    Note where he has invested the bulk of the funds. He owns a ton of the KMI warrants and the company is on record for wanting to buy back more outstanding shares. I own some but not nearly as many as I wish. I am currently waiting for a more favorable price but might bite the bullet anyway.
  • Reply to @scott: thank you for your help. I'm considering it for my taxable account as a way to defer taxes on distributions for as long as I can until it goes to my estate, since I'll be 80 next year.
  • Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) and Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) issue two separate securities that provide essentially identical cash flows. In a perfect capital market with a representative investor, the value of a security depends only on its expected cash flows and the risk of those cash flows, which would be the same.

    To overcome the drawbacks associated with the MLP organization for institutional investors, Kinder Morgan formed KMR as a limited liability corporation (LLC). Instead of partnership units, KMR issues standard shares. KMR’s business is to provide management and operations services to KMP, while providing an optimal vehicle for Investors ownership. KMR does not directly own any properties. It is a holding company of KMP units.

    On a quarterly basis, KMP makes distributions to its unit holders on a pro rata basis. KMP shareholders receive a stock distribution of equivalent value to the cash distribution received by KMP unit holders.

    Because the payout streams on the two securities are designed to be equivalent, a premium for KMP appears to be inconsistent with rational asset pricing. There are, however, four fundamental distinctions between the two securities that potentially may explain why the two securities fail to trade at the same price: differing control rights, different tax treatment, differing liquidity, and the averaging process used to determine the number of shares distributed.

    With respect to taxes, the shares of KMR have certain advantages compared to the KMP units. Because the distributions of additional shares is made proportionately to all owners of shares, the receipt of these additional shares are not includable in the gross income of a KMP shareholder for federal income tax purposes. KMR stock dividends are issues of new shares made to KMR shareholders by KMP in the form of additional shares. Nothing is split; these new additional shares increase the market capitalization and total value of KMR at the same time they reduce your cost basis and add the new shares to your account.

    Shareholders will find KMR's cost basis per share has gone down on an increasing number of shares. By then the dividend and the yield has been absorbed and price chart show total returns.

    As additional shares are distributed the shareholder allocates its tax basis in its shares equally between the old shares and the new shares received. As a result, KMR shareholders do not have to pay tax until they sell their shares, thereby avoiding current tax on the payout and being able to take advantage of timing the sale. Because the new shares are issued for proceeds equal to the pre-existing market price of the shares, there is no reduction in the value of a shareholding due to the issue of the new paid up capital shares.

    The beneficial tax position, more precise timing of distributions, in conjunction with the features that make KMR shares more attractive to institutional investors than KMP units, suggests that if the two securities were to trade at different prices, the KMR shares would sell at a premium.

    Income theory
    Standard finance theory fails to offer an explanation for the KMP premium. One theory is that income-oriented investors prefer KMP, which increases the demand for the KMP units relative to the KMR shares. This theory is hard to take seriously. Income-oriented investors could just as well periodically sell KMR shares to raise cash, as Warren Buffett teaches. This would not only have potential tax benefits, it would allow Investors to match their cash receipts to their needs for income, rather than being based on the distribution schedule of KMP.

    Warren Buffett
    Under this "sell-off" scenario, we would leave all earnings in the company and each sell our shares annually. Since the book value will increase, causing the share price to grow, our income grows. The net worth of our company increases.

    Because we would be selling shares each year, our percentage ownership would have declined, but our share of the net worth of the company will increase. And, remember, every dollar of net worth attributable to each of us can be sold for a premium in the market. Therefore, the market value of our remaining shares would be greater than the value of our shares if we had followed the cash dividend approach.

    Cash dividends have two disadvantages: 1) different investors may desire different levels of payouts, and 2) a dividend received is taxed as income, which long-term investors may not want.

    A cash dividends shareholder could turn around and use the receipts to purchase more shares. But he would both incur taxes, commissions, and slippage, trying to get his dividend reinvested. All of the cash received by shareholders each year is taxed whereas the sell-off program results in tax on only the gain portion of the cash receipts.

    The KMR alternative lets each shareholder make his own choice between cash receipts and capital build-up. Moreover, your annual cash receipts from the sell-off policy will be running higher than you would have received under the cash dividend scenario. You will have both more cash to spend annually, and more capital value.

    The second is the miss-information that arises when financial data services, including Bloomberg and Yahoo try to evaluate MLPs like corporations. KMP is one of the largest MLPs in the US and analysts actively follow both KMP and KMR. It seems hard to believe that the marginal investors in these securities would be unable to see the form through the mists.

    The third is myths perpetrated by ill researched article writers and commenter’s. Not even acting on common sense they will spew on and repeat, about splits and profits as if they knew what they are talking about. These however have little real impact on values.

    Kinder Stock dividends are paid to KMR shareholders by KMP in the form of additional shares. Nothing is split. KMP and KMR are securities that both trade on the NYSE and are designed to have equivalent payouts, although KMP pays in cash and KMR pays in stock. In a perfect market, the two securities should trade at the same price, because the expected cash flows, and the risk of those cash flows, are the same. But in fact KMP trades at a premium over KMR that has at times averaged more than +10%.

    The source of that inefficiency remains a mystery, but does, provide an opportunity to KMR purchasers. It also serves as a warning. If price differences of 10% can persist between two virtually identical securities, it suggests deviations of price from fair value, in situations in which fair value is more difficult to assess in other securities, may be common.

    The accumulated shares of KMR that are paid out in lieu of cash distributions are stepped up to the current market price at time of death... KMP has no benefit over KMR with respect to tax basis stepped up.

    youtu.be/b6AOfaoKINU
  • Reply to @scott: KMP distributions cannot be taken as stock.
  • edited July 2013
    Reply to @BWG: Discount has narrowed almost to nothing as of today.
  • edited July 2013
    Reply to @BWG: The shares in KMR are more significant because they were purchased with cash. With insider trades we look for purchases.

    Over on that link Statsguy says KMR pays its income in stock splits which is a myth that is completely untrue.

    A stock split is like cutting a Pizza pie into smaller and smaller pieces without changing the size of the pie, or giving you anything of tangible value. Kinder Morgan’s Stock dividends are paid to KMR shareholders by KMP in the form of additional shares, which give you additional pieces to the pie, leaving the original intact. Nothing has been split! These new shares increase the market capitalization and total value of the company, at the same time reducing your original cost per share. Stock dividends are not includable in the gross income of the shareholder.
  • Reply to @BWG: KMI has greater growth, When purchased at a discount KMR has highest yield. In spite of the obvious dangers pipelines are still the safest way to transport energy over long distances. Warrants are a good way to add leverage to your core position. Risks: youtu.be/_hvJw4Smz4k
  • Reply to @scott: Normal investors will have sold off long before they have to worry about liquidation values. KMR is a holding company and like most closed-end funds usually sells at a discount to the underlaying security. Pipelines are still the safest way to move energy.

    Railways: youtu.be/mRb3JHsiqfA The time to buy Warrants is just when they move into the money. That would be with KMI at $40.00
  • Reply to @scott: Reply to @scott: Excellent Scott, this would have been the time to buy KMR. It does not matter how many shares he owns. He could have got them for $1.00 a share. What matters is how many he purchased and when.
  • Reply to @ron: The time to buy is when Richard Kinder buys shares in his own company, with his own money, for his own account. There is only one reason that he would do this.

    KMR almost always trades less than KMP although it should trade at a premium. KMR gets the same amount of cash as KMP except it is paid as a stock dividend which defers taxes more efficiently than an IRA with way fewer restrictions.
  • Reply to @scott: The KMR discount is an opportunity to Investors. If your broker is selling off your fractional shares without your permission, get another broker. All the top brokers will reinvest dividends if you request it. KMR does not have a 1099, K-1 or generate UBIT. KMI being a leveraged holding company on KMP and EPB has greater volatility.
  • Reply to @Sumflow: I and Fidelity brokerage beg to differ.
  • edited July 2013
    Reply to @Sumflow: Right.

    I was adding June when the market was down, but I will probably not be adding any further to Kinder.
  • edited July 2013
    Reply to @Sumflow: Etrade and Ameritrade have said no re: KMR and fractional shares when asked on multiple occasions. Others may have different luck.
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